My Necklace

I have a necklace that was given to me by two dear Fijian friends of mine that receives more complements than anything else I have ever owned, large or small. I just received yet another one today. So in light of that, I'm going to tell the story of this necklace because it is more than just a necklace to me.

There was a camp that we were going to run during the school holidays. It was me, Tomu, and another leader or two who were running these day-camp school programs for elementary (primary) school kids two or three days each at two or three schools or something like that. Well, we were at this one school and Tomu didn't show up...at all. Leaving the bulk/all of the execution up to me. I was so mad. And being raised American I was ready to approach this conflict and bring it out in the open. A better part of me (being aware of the Fijian culture) had to hold back my American upbringing and bribe it to keep it quiet.

So I walked into that office that Monday after No-Show Friday exhausting myself (which at that point in my life was easy to do) in the means of keeping quiet about the No-Show issue. So I went to my desk and there it sat. All of my anger and frustration dwindled from me with the words Tomu spoke to me: "Tony and I made that for you. Sorry about Friday". No explaination about his whereabouts, nothing of that sort. Just a simple apology. The beaded necklace strung together with greenish/ocean waterish color fishing line held beads of earthy tones all shapes and sizes and strung together in no particular order. In the four years or so that have passed, a couple have cracked in have, giving it even more character. Every time I wear it, it gets complements and every time I wear it I think back on that Monday morning I was so piping mad, but one simple peace offering with forgiveness as gratitude and the world was set back on its course.